Category: Let's talk
Ok, has anyone ever been telling your favorite blind joke; cuz we know every blind person has one of those. Then suddenly, some person in the group you are trying to grace with your comedic skills, is offended because you, a blind person, told a blind joke?
Or scenario two. Have you ever told a blind joke to someone else, they loved it, and went and told their other friends who aren't blind. Then, as they were telling the joke, they got yelled at or lectured because they are so crass enough to tell a joke about blind people?
How do you feel about these scenarios? do blind jokes offend you? Are you able to make jokes about yourself when you do something wrong or silly or dumb? don't deny it, we've all run into a pole in front of the pretty girl or hot guy and tried to laugh it off. Keep in mind, no jokes here, this isn't the joke board.
my view is that blind jokes are just as acceptable as anything else. i actually know a few myself.
it's exactly the same as anything else. if irish people got offended with irish jokes, or blondes with blonde jokes, what a boring place this would be.
What a boring place that would be, and what a boring place our society is turning in to. Politically correct crap pisses me off. Maybe my skin is too thick, but I really think people need to get over themselves and others and takes things as they are intended. A joke is usually just that: a joke. When people get offended, I figure it's because of some hidden issue they have whthin themselves. I've even told blind jokes to blind people and had them get offended. Sorry, but saying that Hellen Keller's parents used to punish her by leaving the plunger in the toilet is holarious.
I prefer the knowledge that she burned her face by trying to answer the iron, but that isn't taken much better. Not a joke by the way, none, I repeat, none of this is funny in the least. this is a talking board, not a joke board.
I was told my stepfather a joke about us blindy people, which he took and told at work. Now, he works with sailors, SAILORS, and they got offended. It wasn't even all that dirty a joke. It was pathetic.
Some jokes are pathetic, yes, but they are intended as jokes. If you are offended, don't participate, but let the rest of us have our fun. Besides, if you are comfortable in your own skin, you should be able to hear these jokes without getting offended.
I'm totally not offended by blind jokes or most jokes for that matter. there are certain things that I don't get that I think are stupid but I'm not offended by them. I agree with KC8PNL. People need to grow up and get a life. I tell race jokes, ethnic jokes, sexual jokes and anything else that comes to mind, and yes, that includes blind jokes. If someone ever got on my case about being blind and telling a blind joke,, if in the right frame of mind, I'd probably just curse them out or insult their intelligence, assuming they had any. We're human beings just like anyone else, and sometimes, either we laugh or we cry. Then, there are times when things are just plain funny. I hate political correctness with a passion and am always trying to go against it, so that kind of thing just stirs my fires more.
I have found that sighted people are at first surprised, and then laugh if I tell a blind joke. Especially if I'm around people who have never met me before and aren't used to my sense of humor. I'm sure they might look at me sort of funny as if to say, "Does she know she is making fun of blind people" when I tell one of those jokes, but then after they get over the surprise, they laugh. I also find that telling humorous stories of things that have happened to me due to my blindness helps to melt the ice with sighted people. However, you don't want your blindness to become the only topic of conversation or they will get uncomfortable.
totally agree. A little is fine but, as with anything, overdoing it isn't a good idea.
How would Helen Keller take these? Y'all should be ahamed of yourselves. Poor little Helen Keller, standing there in her yellow dress.
Yellow dress you ask?
Her dog is blind too.
But that's not a joke, not at all
Nor was it when she burned her other cheek when the son of a bitch called back. That wasn't funny.
Haha! Never heard some of these Helen Keller jokes before.
Blind jokes don't offend me. But I've told some of them to sighted people, and their reactions are amusing. They're usually shocked, horrified, or a mixture of the two.
Oh I love blindy jokes lol. I agree with Tiff, man, I joke about race, religion, sex, anything--and it's just meant to be amusing. I joke about fundy (fundamentalist) Christians as I can't stand the fundamentalism but don't want to dislike the people or cause drama, same with blind jokes because so many blindies are so damned irritating (lol). oh man there's an infinite variety of blindy jokes. I won't joke about disability in front of someone who's clearly uncomfortable or still adjusting to the problems of it, but I find that more blind/disabled people laugh along, unless they're the type who got coddled by their mommies and were treated like a family secret or embarrassment....it's hard to erase conditioning like that.
people's skins can be awfully thin. i love blind jokes. personally can't ttell a joke worth a darn. so i don't.
the men and women my husband works with are a pretty rough and roudy bunch. often when a new guy comes on board he'll tell some raunchy blind joke to see what jim will do. usually he comes back with a worse one and he's accepted by this dude too.
Ok, is it wrong that, if I find someone who is blind and is made uncomfortable by that type of humor, that I find it funny? Is that evil or sinful? Am I going to hell?
hmmm, until now i just thought a joke was a joke. not a blind joke, or a sighted joke, i never catagorised jokes, but hey, whatever floats ones boat, i guess. although, i do get that sighted people have a problem if i tell a joke with a blind person, or about blindness in it, but, if they don't find that funny, then that isn't my problem. my brother once told a joke with a blind person in it, i laughed, but i think it was an aunt, asked him how he could be so cruel when i was next to him. he just said, "well, look at who's laughing". honestly, most sighted people think that we're like china dolls or something, but we're not. it's not cruel to tell a joke around a blind person, if it's about a blind person. it's funny, and not meant to be taken seriously. i think some people, (people in general), have sticks up their asses when it comes to political correctness, and they think we're so easily afended.
Personally I've found that if I can make a joke about my blindness, it often makes people around me (especially ones that I've just met), more comfortable. IT shows that I'm not bothered by my blindness and am not going to go off the handle if they bring it up or something. That being said, I've seen some people overdo it, and make it just feel awkward. Like everything in life, there's a balance.
I was thinking the same thing, Singer of Songs. It really can make people feel more comfortable.
Not being a good joke teller and being offended by jokes are two different things. All of the jokes I tell are jokes I hear from others.
my karate school, you should hear all the joking that goes on, blond jokes cuz one of our blackbelts is a blond, blind jokes, cuz i'm blind, and, he'll say something, now see here, and i'll just raise an eyebrow, everyone else would see it, and then we all start laughing, now i can see, but not that well. and there i like it, cuz we all laugh at each other. now, outside my karate school, there are things that piss me off, like my family and blind jokes... that i don't like... or playing tricks on the blind person, poking putting something on their plate that they didn't order, or swapping drinks, or flicking straw papers, which i try to flick back and always miss, or standing in line and poking then when i try to poke back, my mother yells at me... but that's just me.
so karate, fine, cuz, we're all laughing at everyone else, outside my dojo, no, cuz then i want to punch something.
Tricks on the blind because we're blind is different. I don't care what any of you say about having too thin of a skin, or being too easily offended. Telling jokes is one thing, but playing tricks on us for fun. That's taking advantage, because you wouldn't be able to do that if we could see. I don't mind it once in awhile, but doing it constantly gets on my last nerves.
I totally agree. My sister would do some mean shit to me when we were kids, like punching me and then running away and hiding in ridiculous places, or telling me if we were waiting in the car for my mom to come out of a store that there was a guy pointing a gun at us, and lots of other stuff. I guess that's partially my fault for being gullible, but still...I don't mind blind jokes though.
As long as one particular person is not part of the joke, I'm totally fine with it.
I don't mind blind jokes. What gets me is when a sighted person says something like, but you didn't see it did you? in reference to something going on. I can't tell you how many times they really think they're being funny. Yeah, playing tricks on the blind girl not cool. I'm still a hell of a shot with a super soaker though & I'm blind as a bat. Oh and when sighted folks try avoiding the word blind. I think I pissed off a straightlaced gal when I pointed out that blind isn't a curse word. Or when people try correcting me when I say "I see." Always fun. Tiffany
Sometimes I try to use those words, like "blind" or "see", just to make a point. It works eventually.
karate, we all are playfully polking the other, and i can polk them back, so it's all good.. anywhere else, and i want to rip faces off.
Honestly I haven't read or heard any blind jokes that I thought were funny. I've not found any that were offensive as it's not easy to offend me, but the ones I've heard just suck. As for the whole bit about playing tricks on blind people or otherwise being annoying on purpose, that is a sore spot with me, dare I admit it. Nope, that sort of thing is not funny and I would suspect those who do such things might harbor some hostility or might just have sadistic tendancies.
Yeah. My wife's had a tendency to play tricks on me at the dinner table sometimes. Well even if we're just sitting down having a soda or someting and not actuallye ating. But we'll be talking and sometimes she thinks it's funny to move my drink or at least pick it up when I'm about to reach for it. And she couldn't understand why I didn't find that sort of thing funny. As for blind jokes I'm not generally offended by them but nor do I find them particularly amusing.
I will admit, at some point, "blind jokes" did afend me, but sense then, I've learned to take things less personally... After all, adding humor to my visual impairment really does lighten up the mood a great deal, usually depending on the joke... Lately, if I decide I dislike a blind joke that someone else has told, it would be because the joke was incredibly pathetic, or just didn't make sense in the least... Almost every time I myself have told a blindness-related joke, sighted people have made me out to have a low self-esteem, just because I "insulted myself" by telling a joke of that sort. When that happens, I usually just remind them that it would be much better than simply feeling sorry for myself, like they would most likely do if they were in my position. Yes, I know, that sort of response sounds immature, maybe even a bit brutal, but it's the honest truth, in my opinion...
Oh I can't say I was ever offended by them. It might have been a different story if I'd lost my sight later in life but as it is they don't really offend me. I just have never found one that i found amusing for more than, say, a few seconds. And I make jokes about my blindness all the time. But you'd be surprised at the number of sighted folks who think blind people shouldn't have a sense of humor, least of all about their blindness. I actually had a would-be girlfriend a few years back who actually expressed concerns about my self-esteem after I made a joke.
I can relate to most of what you're saying. If I had lost my sight later in life, rather than at birth, I would probably feel sorry for myself for a little while, but as good as I am at getting use to certain things, I would probably be able to get use to blindness eventually. As for the "would-be girlfriend" situation, in my case it would be a boyfriend, but that sort of thing would really agrivate me...
Oh exactly. Even my wife seems to have traces of that while ironically treating me exactly, and I mean EXACTLY, like a sighted person. And while tis is good in many ways it does have its down side namely the fact that when she asks me to get something for her and it's out in plain view she gets impatient with me if I don't find it right away. So on some level I think she resents my blindness, not that she'd ever say that. Then there are those times when she finds it funny, like the beverage incident I mentioned a few posts back.
hmmm. yeah im same as most on here. never heard one that offended me, but as well, never heard 1 that made me laugh. but the playing tricks thing got me in a hospital once upon a time. A "friend" of mine in the early years of high school when i had just lost my sight, thought it would be amusing to sprinkle ground red pepper in to my drink when i got up from the table. well, see, i'm allergic so yeah. ended up in the E R and "friend" said i faked it and he didn't feel bad cuz i was doing it to get attention. Yeah, cuz i totally made itchy hives and swelling appear on my face all by myself. that kind of stuff pisses me off and will likely get someone yelled at or called out in some other humiliating way. lol i'm not over stooping to their level or even below it. lol
I feel a bit sad for these sighted folks who think joking about blindness is some sort of social taboo, like joking about cancer.
I agree with most on here... I'm not offended by jokes but I don't think most of them are all that funny either whether its a blind joke or not. Maybe I just don't understand them I don't know. As for sighted people playing tricks on blind people, I just think thats cruel and heartless.
Sighted people playing tricks, *really does* irratate me. Kayla, Like you, I have been injured by my brother putting two suitcases in my bedroom doorway, standing upright, so as to trip me. I spraned my ancle (screw my spelling lol). I do realize your incident could've gotten you killed, sense it was an alergic reaction, but never the less, I find people who thrive on picking on the visually impaired rather immature, if you ask me...
I haven't had anyone get upset at me or anyone else for telling a blind joke; in fact, when I told the joke the relatives I told it to thought it was pretty funny. I do agree with tricks being played on blind people being a different thing though. Well, sometimes it depends on the trick and the intentions of the person. Like when my niece or 8-year-old nephew are in my room or they are somewhere around me, and they try to trick me into thinking they're not. They'll say bye and go toward the door and open and close it, or just stand there quietly. I guess it's like a game; sometimes it works and I think they have left, but sometimes I feel their presence like if they're standing right next to me. My nephew is still amazed that I can do that. *smile* I don't mind that. On the other hand, I also had a time where my niece had quietly done something wrong and then tried to say that she didn't do it. But I knew my nephew was not in the car, so she still got in trouble with her mom for it. Also, I'm not into rollercoasters, or any fast rides and my sister sometimes mentions not telling me and just getting me on one. She laughs about it, but I hope she or anyone else never seriously does that; I don't think I could ever trust that person after that. I also don't like the trick where I'm reaching for something and someone pulls it away. It's annoying and irritating to me.
Yeah, I can handle certain tricks played on me, as long as I know that the ententions of the person playing the trick are tolerable, but I agree on the fact that someone you're supposed to be babysitting does something he/she isn't supposed to be doing in front of you, then denies it, and pulling something you try to reach for away from you right when you're about to grab it without you knowing they did it can get annoying, as well as someone pulling your chair out from behind you right when you're about to sit down. All of this has happened to me before. :p And nothing annoys me more than teachers at school who accuse a student (particularly a friend of yours) of "picking on a visually impaired kid", when you yourself are fully aware of the fact that whoever played the trick is joking. Now if the person really meant to be cruel, I could understand school staff being so defensive (although I'm fully capable of defending myself in most cases), but thinking I'm just some helpless poor blind kid, when a student only did so much as throw a pen at me, has to be the most aggravating thing on the plannet in this case.
I actually had a sightee lecture me 'cuz I made fun of my blindness. I said, "Me and my blind self. I shoulda known that wall was there." and she said, "Don't say that. That's not being nice to yourself." Sheesh!
lol, that's funny, but I hate that. It's stupid. when I was young, I couldn't see as good as I can now, so yeah people would play tricks on me. I was a good sport though, I've always been good for a joke, but at a certain point it pissed me off and I said enough. Like my brother waving his hand in my face while I was talking didn't bug me too much. My sister running me straight into a poll at the store right in front of everyone so I got a big ass bruise on my face, just to get a laugh ... yeah that pissed me off.
As far as jokes, nah, they've never bugged me. I have heard a few funny blind jokes, but it's just like any other joke. Like, I'm a country bumpkin. I can joke like hell about rednecks and hill-billies at my own expense, and like the blind jokes, it takes some people off guard at first because they would expect me to be offended by that kinda thing. But after people get to know and love my rediculous sense of humor in which I make relentless fun of myself, they get used to it. lol
Jessie
A sense of humor is one of the most important things to have in my opinion. Blind jokes are a great way to break the ice when meeting people for the first time. Initially, a lot of my friends were incredibly uneasy about what they could or couldn't say around me. Little did they know, I'm constantly making jokes at my own expense, as well as at the expense of others. if blind jokes offended me, I'd be such a hypocrite. And if one continues to joke and demonstrate that they have a sense of humor about things, the company one keeps will become much more at ease.
Ah. Tricks and pranks were part of what led to the end of my most recent relationship. Maria thought it was funny to move drinks and on one occasion even an entire plate of food, just as I was about to reach for them. And she wold always laugh when I eacted and she couldn't understand why I didn't find that funny. In fact she got all hurt and offended. Not that we were a good match since despite all her claims to the contrary she resented my blindness, even if on some level she wasn't aware of. And I know she resented the fact that I wanted a job.